There are two books by Maturana & Varela. Autopoiesis
and Cognition (currently out of print) is deeper and harder to read,
while the Tree of Knowledgeis an
easier and more popular work.Francisco Varela Principles of Biological
Autonomy New York: Elsevier Science Publishers, 1979.Varela, Thompson & Rosch. The Embodied
Mind (MIT 1991) is a dialogue between cognitive science and Buddhist
meditative psychology

Maturana/Varela on Autopoiesis

This notion, introduced by Maturana and Varela, refers
to autonomous systems that are self-creating, self-organizing and self-preserving.
It is commonly applied to biological organisms, and also to human organizations.

Varela on Whole/Part Relationship

In many fields of science and technology, the relationship between
the whole (holism) and the part (reductionism) is crucial. Flemons describes
this relationship as complementary,

source: Douglas Flemons, Completing Distinctions,
p 33

"On the one hand. one can move down a level and study the properties
of the components, disregarding their mutual interconnection as a system.
On the other hand, one can disregard the detailed structure of the components,
treating their behaviour only as contributing to that of a larger unit.
... We cannot conceive of components if there is no system from which they
are abstracted; and there cannot be a whole unless there are constitutive
elements."